They spit on the memory of the real victims of 9/11.
Former city cops and firefighters used the 2001 terror attacks as an excuse to fund their carefree lifestyles on the taxpayer dime, authorities said Tuesday.
Dozens of the former NYPD and FDNY members who claimed to have suffered stress-related woes from the World Trade Center attacks were among 106 people arrested for a longstanding Social Security disability scam, officials said.
A former Brooklyn cop accused of being part of the crooked crew that soaked taxpayers for $ 21.5 million showed his contempt with a sick grin and two extended middle fingers.
Glenn Lieberman became the unwitting poster boy for a sprawling Social Security ripoff ring, which includes 71 other retired city cops, eight former firefighters, and three ex-corrections officers.
Joe Marino; Jefferson Siegel/New York Daily News
The alleged ringleaders of the disability scam that dated back to 1988.
Even more galling, about half of those retirees disgraced themselves further by allegedly claiming to have suffered stress-related woes from the 9/11 attacks, authorities charged.
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“I can only express my disgust at the actions of the individuals involved in this scheme,” newly appointed Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said.
“Particularly the 72 former members of the New York City Police Department, who have certainly disgraced themselves, embarrassed their families, with their abuse of this system.
“The idea that many of them chose the events of 9/11 to claim as the basis for this disability brings further dishonor to themselves.”
NYPD retiree Richard Cosentino felt good enough for marlin fishing in Costa Rica.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said, “The brazenness is shocking.”
Vance suggested there might be additional arrests beyond the 106 announced Tuesday by the time they wrap up their probe. The scammers operated from January 1988 until last month, and during those years, some 1,000 people filed fraudulent claims for as much as $ 400 million, Vance said.
Lieberman, an ex-Brooklyn South Gangs officer who quit the force in 2006 after 19 years on the job, collected $ 175,758.40 in disability payments based on a bogus claim of having a psychiatric disorder, prosecutors charged.
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But the 44-year-old ex-cop, who now lives in sunny Palm Beach, Fla., doesn’t look like a tortured soul as he sits on a Jet-Ski and flips a pair of birds in an undated photo released by prosecutors.
Surveillance photo shows Darrin Lamantia, a cop who retired on a disability claim, playing basketball.
Neither do many of the other former cops and firefighters who prosecutors charge were coached by the ringleaders to act dysfunctional and steered to shady doctors to green-light disability payments of anywhere from $ 30,000 to $ 50,000 a year, the 205-count indictment charges.
“For years, federal taxpayers have unwittingly financed the lifestyles of the defendants charged today,” Vance said.
Lieberman, who is charged with second-degree grand larceny and criminal solicitation, could not be reached for comment. He faces up to 15 years in prison.
But he was not the only suspect who flaunted his money and carefree lifestyle on social media, apparently never dreaming he would be caught.
Vincent Lamantia, 43, a retired NYPD officer, used the $ 150,000 in disability money he collected between May 2010 and June 2013 to “fund his lifestyle,” Assistant District Attorney Bryan Serino said.
ROBERTO BOREA/AP
Workers sift through the pile of rubble at the World Trade Center after the 9/11 terror attacks.
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“He bragged about what he was doing in a series of YouTube videos,” Serino added.
Richard Cosentino, a 49-year-old retired NYPD officer who now lives in New Hampshire, posted on Facebook a photo of himself with a massive marlin he caught.
“It was an awesome day off the coast of Costa Rica,” he wrote on Sept. 11, 2012, while many New Yorkers were marking the anniversary of the terror attacks.
Prosecutors say Cosentino stole nearly $ 208,000 between May 2008 and June 2013. He appears happy and functional.
This flow chart provided by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office shows the layers of the scam and the alleged ringleaders.
Louis (Shidoshi) Hurtado, a 60-year-old former NYPD officer, has collected a whopping $ 470,395.20 since June 1989.
But being diagnosed with psychiatric problems didn’t stop him from running his own mixed martial arts school outside Tampa, and boasting on its website about serving as a “personal bodyguard” to stars ranging from Sean Connery to James Caan.
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Prosecutors said the four ringleaders also should have known better.
Raymond Lavallee, 83, of Massapequa, L.I., who is accused of being the brains of the operation, is a former FBI agent who once ran the rackets bureau at the Nassau County DA’s office.
Civilian worker Joseph Morrone (center) helps dish cannolis at the San Gennaro festival.
Thomas Hale, 89, of Bellmore, L.I., who allegedly served as Lavallee’s right-hand man, is a pension consultant.
Joseph Esposito, 64, of Valley Stream, L.I., a retired New York police officer, allegedly recruited many of the crooked cops and firefighters.
And John Minerva, 61, of Malverne, L.I., also allegedly steered people into the scam. He has been suspended from the Detectives Endowment Association.
The four ringleaders are charged with first- and second-degree grand larceny and attempted second-degree grand larceny. Each faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted.
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John Stefanowski, an ex-cop, loves golf.
Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch said the union doesn’t “condone anyone filing false claims.”
Esposito said nothing when he turned himself in earlier Tuesday.
“While these are serious allegations, we were aware that they were coming,” his lawyer, Brian Griffin, said. “We did not avoid them.”
“My client’s involvement in this scheme was minimal at best,” said Minerva’s lawyer, Glenn Hardy.
Joseph Conway, a lawyer who represents Hale, said he was a “decorated World War II veteran.”
John Famularo, an ex-Finest and motorcycle enthusiast, is accused of taking more than $ 340,000 in the scam.
“For the last 30 years, he’s run a legitimate consulting company,” said Conway. “He vehemently denies any wrongdoing.”
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Lavallee’s lawyer, Raymond Perini, said his client is a Korean War vet and former G-man who investigated organized crime in New York and Miami.
“He’s denied each and every allegation,” Perini said.
In an 11-page bail letter addressed to Justice Daniel Fitzgerald, prosecutors said cops seeking a disability would seek out Esposito or Minerva, who would then steer them to Hale and Lavallee.
JB NICHOLAS FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton said he can only express his disgust over Social Security scheme.
But it was Esposito who “coached” the applicants on what to say to doctors and urged them to “pretend” to have “panic attacks.”
“You’re gonna tell ’em, ‘I don’t sleep well at night,’ ” Esposito was caught on a wiretap telling one defendant, Jacqueline Powell. “I’m up three, four times.”
Esposito and the other ringleaders got a kickback for every patient diagnosed with a stress-related illness, prosecutors charged. So did at least two doctors who were part of the scam.
The DA’s office took on the probe after a Social Security official noticed a series of applications that all seem to be written with the same hand, and which all had similar diagnoses.
The NYPD Internal Affairs Bureau joined the probe and uncovered the retired officers allegedly participating in the ripoff.
With Larry McShane
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